The primary trend for family immigration is a slow down in processing of all petition and application types at USCIS, at the National Visa Center, and at US consulates abroad. And, interviews are taking longer as part of the "extreme vetting" campaign. I mentioned in an earlier post that mandatory interviews for employment based adjustment of status applicants is impacting processing times for family based adjustment of status and naturalization interviews. Here in Seattle, where once upon a … [Read more...]
Immigration and Firm News
In a few earlier posts, I discussed how the permanent immigration quota system works, or doesn't work because of its impact on illegal immigration. In my recent post, Why Don't They Just Come Legally? - Myths Part II, I mention that two of the causes of illegal immigration are due to there being no lines for legal visas to get into in the first place because there are no categories for certain employment and family categories. And, in cases where there are applicable categories, the lines can … [Read more...]
As Congress and several states take up proposals to repeal the 14th Amendment citizenship provisions because of fears of an "alien invasion", anti-immigrant activists continue to incorrectly charge that individuals from abroad want to invade our country by breaking the law. Myth: Most of the people here illegally just don't want to follow the law. The frequent refrain, or more likely, a quip, is "why don't they just come legally or get in line?" Reality: Most people would come legally if they … [Read more...]
The anti-immigrant rhetoric about the DREAM Act lately is disingenuous, to say the least, and completely false in other cases. Unlike experienced immigration lawyers, most legislators just don't have the day-to-day experience of implementing or using the laws they create, so they may not fully appreciate the real impact the laws they enact have on real people, families, employers, and the community at large. I show below how some of the anti-DREAM Act arguments being made by certain … [Read more...]
Anchor Babies - The Myth "Anchor Baby" is a derogatory term and a figment of imagination. Anchor for what? Nativists believe that immigrants come to the US to "drop babies" so they can bestow an immigration benefit upon the parents. This is pure nonsense and not the law or fact! There are no immigration categories in our present system that allow a U.S. born child under 21 to sponsor his or her parents! Under current law, whether the parents entered legally or illegally, they will have to … [Read more...]